Get Out Review

R: Violence, Bloody Images, and Language Including Sexual References

Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, QC Entertainment

1 Hr and 43 Minutes

Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Lil Rel Howery, Keith Stanfield

REVIEW: So Jordan Peele wrote and directed a horror movie. Yep even while typing a full review, it’s still a weird sentence to type. When comics such as Mike Birbiglia, Chris Rock, or Mel Brooks transfer from on camera to behind the camera with a directorial debut you mostly see them direct films in the genre of comedy. But Jordan Peele has decided to escape that norm by directing a horror movie. Not a comedy or a parody but a legit horror movie. It’s so horrifying you have the producer of all films horror, Jason Blum as a producer on this. 

Now that Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he could never have imagined.

THE GOOD:

Several years back in 2011, I had a conversation with my dad about the portrayal of Black people in horror movies. We complained how either they were the first to die or nonexistent in the film. We were both very sick and tired of seeing the same cliche over and over again. He even tried to think of his own version of a horror movie starring African-Americans. We just ended the conversation in the hope a director would come along and make a legit horror flick that both perfectly portrayed the actions of African-Americans without any stereotypes with the characters and come off as a good movie. We had to accept the fact that, that movie was never going to happen for we watched theatrical parodies from Marlon Wayans as a diversion. 

UNTIL NOW!

Get Out is a film that simply answers the question, “how would black people react in a horror film type of situation.” If you think this is the horror version of the 1967 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, it is much more than that. The premise is a blend of that and the 1975 film The Stepford Wives while putting a modern spin on it.

When it comes to making a horror movie, the first thing that should be considered before shooting the principal photography is writing a good script that is tight with little to no loose ends. Though it takes some, you soon begin to feel as the film goes on the passion that was put into the screenplay and the direction because from beginning to end it is thoroughly smart, original, and surprising. It’s hard to genuinely add an element of surprise in the genre of horror since a lot of films recently (with the exception of Split) were made to be nothing but cheap thrills suckering moviegoers for their money. This works on the element of surprise so much that it's surprisingly unpredictable. 

You can tell that Peele took his time to build off this concept by watching classic horror movies, recognizing its atmosphere, and picking out every cliché imaginable while putting his own spin on it. It shows nothing but passion and effort that was put not only into his writing but his direction as well. From the beginning, the film sets up its own eerie atmosphere with a light yet creepy tone that perfectly balances when it needs to be humorous and when it needs to be serious. They don’t step over each other while it works on both ends. It’s as if he wrote down every horror movie trope and said,“how do I make this clever? How do I make this work without resulting to a silly joke that messes up the tone?” And he worked on it until he felt a sense of self-completion which is something every good screenwriter should strive to do. It’s a satire of the tropes of a horror movie while still able to be classified as a horror movie.

There are several beautifully memorable shots that you wonder how some were captured. It leaves you in awe more than it leaves you in shock. The shot composition is creepy in the way it resembles classic horror movies from the 70s by the color schemes you see in the Armitage house Chris and his girlfriend Rose stay at.

The film features a strong performance from Daniel Kaluuya. What’s good about his performance is that he’s respectable and thoroughly calm with everything that’s going on. You see that he’s concerned, but he does portray just a regular guy that everyone can relate to. He’s never over the top or go to that stereotypical level where he’s thug or from the street, but is in fact quite subtle with his actions. You feel for this character as a real character other than your central unlikable lead you have to follow in similar to other horror films that fail. It’s one of the reasons why I like The Conjuring films and Lights Out. The screenwriters were able to build on the characters and write them to be likable and give them enough personality so the audience is able to root for them. Even when he finds out some of the truths within the house, he does the logical action that is smart and clever.

Another great thing about his character is the relationship he has with his best friend. Not his relationship with his girlfriend Rose, but his relationship with his best friend played by Lil Rel Howery (who you might recognize from The Carmichael Show). The dynamic they have together is funny and is written so well to a point you realize, this character is the Key to Chris’ Peele. Everything Howery says is delivered in a fast-paced dialect that you can easily imagine Keegan-Michael Key to say. He’s the film’s central comic relief and it’s genuine. You can tell they have a friendship that goes way back that you know this character is pretty much Keegan-Michael Key. When you hear their on phone interactions, you will feel the Key and Peele vibes right off the bat. DON’T THINK I DIDN’T KNOW PEELE! I KNOW THAT YOU WROTE KEEGAN IN THIS MOVIE!

THE BAD: Whereas Peele was able to write around clever twists on the horror tropes in all accounts of the narrative, the film just can’t shy away from it in the accounts of sound. The only one in major is the goddamn jump scare music. Sometimes you don’t have to go to the obligatory jump scare music by the obnoxious percussion instrument to terrify your audience. It’s more creepy to just have the visual speak for itself in silence. But alas this film is unable to get out of that horror movie trope (see what I did there?) for it relies on it too many times. Hey, this movie had to remind you that it was a Blumhouse production one way or another.

THE RENDY: Thank you Jordan Peele for not only making the movie my dad and I always complained about but also making the first [and best] horror film that rightfully displays the actions of a regular African-American given a horror movie type situation without discriminating him to a walking stereotype without a personality like Marlon Wayans do. Thank you for making the movie Maron Wayans doesn’t have the brain capacity to make.

LAST STATEMENT: Tightly written and passionately crafted together, Jordan Peele’s Get Out is a modern horror classic that is smart, funny, surprisingly unpredictable throughout. 

Rating: 4.5/5 | 93%

Super Scene: "Rose, where's the keys?"

Pros	Cons
Incredibly Tightly Written Script	Obligatory Jump Scare Music
Direction
Cinematography
The Big Twist
Daniel Kaluuya's Chris and the Logical Actions He Does
Key and Peele Vibes Between Chris and His Best Friend